By: Bruce Black,
on 4/10/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 371 2115 wordswimmer 17 4 2482 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 4/7/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 1255 7155 wordswimmer 59 16 8394 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 3/31/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 429 2448 wordswimmer 20 5 2872 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 3/24/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 268 1532 wordswimmer 12 3 1797 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 3/17/2013
When Susan Campbell Bartoletti embarks on a full-length nonfiction project, she knows it will take years and that she’ll have to summon all her strength. “I know it's going to be frustrating and physically and emotionally exhausting,” says the Newbery Award winning author of more than a dozen books of nonfiction and fiction for young readers, as well as picture books, “but I also know there is
By: Bruce Black,
on 3/10/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 577 3290 wordswimmer 27 7 3860 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 3/3/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 491 2802 wordswimmer 23 6 3287 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 2/24/2013
The other day as I sat on the beach at the edge of the breaking surf, I thought about stories and how they exert their pull on us as readers and writers, calling to us just as the sea calls to us. What is it that pulls us into a story? And how can we as writers learn to exert this pull on our readers? That pull, that tugging of our heart, begins the moment we open a book and begin reading the
By: Bruce Black,
on 2/17/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 891 5084 wordswimmer 42 11 5964 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 2/10/2013
Through a stroke of fate—in the way that we find books waiting on the shelf for us, sometimes for years, without us being aware of their existence—I came across Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone, a novel for adults based on the true story of a couple who dared raise their voices against the Nazi propaganda machine and attempted to tell the truth to other Germans. The novel was published in 1947
By: Bruce Black,
on 2/3/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 509 2903 wordswimmer 24 6 3406 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 1/27/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 726 4143 wordswimmer 34 9 4860 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 1/20/2013
Sarah Lamstein grew up in a house surrounded by books. "Writing was in the air," says Lamstein, the winner of the 2008 Sydney Taylor Honor Award for her picture book, Letter on the Wind. Her father loved writing stories, and Lamstein took great delight in reading them aloud to the family whenever he finished one. "Those times were as exciting to us," she says, "as opening night at a Broadway
By: Bruce Black,
on 1/13/2013
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 292 1668 wordswimmer 13 3 1957 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 12/16/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 402 2292 wordswimmer 19 5 2689 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 12/9/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 844 4813 wordswimmer 40 11 5646 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 12/2/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 706 4027 wordswimmer 33 9 4724 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 11/25/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 761 4341 wordswimmer 36 10 5092 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 10/7/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 947 5401 wordswimmer 45 12 6336 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 10/14/2012
<!--StartFragment--> As I make my way through Shelley Pearsall’s new novel, Jump Into the Sky—I’m almost halfway through the WWII story about a young boy in search of his father—I can’t help admiring how she uses flashbacks as a way of deepening the reader’s emotional connection to Levi Battle, the 13-year-old boy who serves as her main character. It isn’t easy for an author to find just
By: Bruce Black,
on 10/21/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 1188 6772 wordswimmer 56 15 7945 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 11/18/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 1340 7642 wordswimmer 63 17 8965 14.0 544x376 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 11/11/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 727 4145 wordswimmer 34 9 4863 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 11/4/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 403 2298 wordswimmer 19 5 2696 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
By: Bruce Black,
on 10/28/2012
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 0 1 541 3085 wordswimmer 25 7 3619 14.0 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
This is one of the most soulful posts I've ever read. May dolphins guide you safely through the waves.
Beautiful entry today, Bruce. Will be swimming alongside you in spirit...every writer knows the feeling of diving into the unknown. It's in our DNA to test the waters, uncertain of the outcome. Best of luck to you as you embark on your journey. Swim strong!
OK, wait. Is this literal or metaphorical? It's beautifully written and captures so much about how I feel at the beginning of a new adventure (writing or otherwise). But...are you really leaving?